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Joseph Joubert

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II

Name: The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II
Author: Joseph Joubert

Complete Notebooks · French with an independent English translation.

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The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II1812 · Entry 6388

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French Page · Branch 2607 of 4529

1812 · Entry 6388

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 5213

19 juin.

Il faut (en ce genre) compter par périodes, non par siècles, c’est à dire ajuster le temps à la durée des choses et le diviser par elles. On subordonne ainsi une mesure arbitraire et feinte à une mesure vraie, visible, solide, réelle en un mot, et qui vaut mieux.

Par exemple, de Ronsard à Malherbe, il y a une période; de Malherbe à Corneille, une autre; de Boileau et Racine à Voltaire, une troisième; de Voltaire à Ducis, à Roucher, à Delille et à Fontanes, une quatrième. Nous vivons, en poésie, sous la période et les influences de l’abbé Delille et de Fontanes : les deux premiers poëtes que nous avons nommés (Ducis et Roucher), lesquels étoient entrés avec les deux autres dans la carrière, n’ayant fait que s’y montrer et n’y ayant fait aucun pas.

Dans les Malherbiens, plus de son que de sens; dans les Cornéliens, plus de sens que de son; dans les Boiléens et Raciniens, le simple son du sens; dans les Voltairiens, plus d’éclat et de mouvement que de sens et de son; dans les Deliens et surtout dans les Fontanisiens, beaucoup de son, beaucoup d’éclat, beaucoup de sens, mais peu de mouvement, sans quoi on dénature ce genre éminemment sévère et ses pathétiques beautés.

Lafontaine a eu tous ces genres.

Dans Virgile, il y a toujours un beau son et un beau sens.

— Quand je dis que ce beau genre doit avoir peu de mouvement, je veux dire aucun mouvement de droite à gauche, de gauche à droite, et rien de ce qu’on peut appeler mouvement de gesticulation. Car d’ailleurs le ton qu’il prend porte au dedans de soi un grand principe de mouvement de bas en haut et de mouvement de progrès, […]ut y procédant essentiellement par des successions harmoniques, […]pèces de beauté que la versification voltairienne n’a jamais et ne […]ut pas avoir.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: 1812

p. 5214

June 19.

One must (in this kind) count by periods, not by centuries, that is to say, adjust time to the duration of things and divide it by them. In this way one subordinates an arbitrary and feigned measure to a true, visible, solid measure, real in a word, and worth more.

For example, from Ronsard to Malherbe there is one period; from Malherbe to Corneille, another; from Boileau and Racine to Voltaire, a third; from Voltaire to Ducis, to Roucher, to Delille and to Fontanes, a fourth. In poetry, we live under the period and the influences of the abbé Delille and Fontanes: the first two poets we named (Ducis and Roucher), who had entered the career with the other two, having done no more than show themselves there and having taken no step in it.

In the Malherbians, more sound than sense; in the Cornelians, more sense than sound; in the Boileauians and Racinians, the simple sound of sense; in the Voltaireans, more brilliance and movement than sense and sound; in the Delillians and above all in the Fontanesians, much sound, much brilliance, much sense, but little movement; otherwise one distorts this eminently severe kind and its pathetic beauties.

Lafontaine had all these kinds.

In Virgil, there is always a beautiful sound and a beautiful sense.

— When I say that this beautiful kind must have little movement, I mean no movement from right to left, from left to right, and nothing of what one can call gesticulating movement. For in other respects the tone it takes bears within itself a great principle of movement from below upward and of forward movement, [everything] proceeding in it essentially through harmonic successions, [kinds] of beauty that Voltairean versification never has and [cannot] have.

T187.The parenthetic limit, periods/centuries distinction, repeated measure and ordered qualities remain. This kind is not replaced by an invented chapter title or discipline.

T504.Six paragraphs remain under 19 juin; only the sixth continues onto page 723. The son/sens sequences, source school names, one-word Lafontaine and the unfinished participial construction in the second paragraph are preserved. Deliens has no certified accent over its e; the raised short horizontal artifacts elsewhere are not normalized to accents. The outer edge damages some final letter contours on page 722, but the selected endings remain identifiable; no unprinted words are inferred there. On page 723 the beginnings before ut, pèces and the final ut are materially lost. Tout, espèces and peut are contextual possibilities only; the tiny remnants before these residues do not certify the missing letters. The intact n’a jamais et ne is preserved without repair.

T188.All names and four periods remain in order. The final participial construction stays dependent, and the paired first two/other two are not reassigned. The career and step imagery remain.

T189.The author-derived group names are rendered by corresponding English derivatives, without inventing schools. Delillians interprets Deliens through the preceding Delille; the French spelling remains literal. Sound/sense and repeated much remain. Pathetic concerns the power to move feeling, not modern contempt. Otherwise takes sans quoi as referring to the requirement of little movement, consistent with the next extended explanation; it does not make movement itself the prerequisite. The English semicolon clarifies that relation without adding a proposition.

T190.The source’s unified name spelling and all remain. No list of works or newly named genres is added.

T191.The repeated beautiful and the sound/sense pair remain, with always intact.

T192.The dash, first-person clarification, reversed directions and three different movements remain. In other respects renders d’ailleurs without implying a contrary condition. Harmonic successions preserves the musical analogy. The paragraph continues onto page 723, where [everything], [kinds] and [cannot] interpret the damaged openings as tout, espèces and peut. The broader last bracket also includes the intact French negative ne; it does not claim that the whole French negative was lost. The intact n’a jamais et ne remains in French, with never has and cannot have in English.

About This Reading Edition

Joubert’s notebooks return to the work of thinking and writing, the demands of friendship, and questions of faith, beauty and conduct. This edition pairs the French with a new English translation, preserving the order of the chosen source and the unfinished character of its fragments. Dates and source references allow readers to follow a thought through time or return to its printed context.

Historical Text and Translation

The French text follows André Beaunier’s 1938 edition of Les Carnets de Joseph Joubert, published by Gallimard from Joubert’s autograph manuscripts. Volume II continues the notebooks and includes seventy undated pieces. French and English are aligned paragraph by paragraph, retaining the source order, printed dates and page references so readers can return to the facsimile.

About Diotimos Editions

Diotimos Editions prepared this new English translation directly from the French, preserving Joubert’s distinctions, recurring images, ambiguities and unfinished thoughts. Translator’s notes clarify wording, references and uncertain readings: Essential keeps notes that help explain a passage, while All includes technical detail. Annotations from the 1938 source edition remain distinct from the new translator’s notes.

Rights

The linked facsimile records identify the French source as public domain in the United States. The new English translation and editorial notes are © 2026 Diotimos, with source annotations and new editorial contributions credited separately. This edition pairs the complete French notebooks with an independent English translation, preserving the distinction between Joubert’s text and its accompanying notes.